returns

Have you ever received an email or letter reading something like this? Are you tired of working for that boss you hate? Youâ€™ll never get rich working for a big company, so hereâ€™s the proven way to build wealth, working only about an hour a month. Pitches like these for investment newsletters try to appeal to our emotions and our human ability to suspend common sense and believe anything we want to believe. Letâ€™s take a closer look. The logic …

Most of us have heard that stocks have outperformed bonds in the long run. But what is the definition of long run? So far this century, have stocks really outperformed? To answer that question, I decided to look at how three different asset classes have performed in the new millennium. I examined the performance of stocks vs. bonds from Dec. 31, 1999 through June 30, 2015. I compared the total returns of U.S. stocks, international stocks and investment grade U.S. …

Iâ€™m going to try to mislead you, but itâ€™s for a very good reason. What I have for you is a U.S. stock fund that not only has beaten the S&P 500 index, itâ€™s nearly certain to continue doing so in the long run. For now, Iâ€™m going to call this mutual fund the Super-Secret Fund, or SSF for short. Looking back over 20 years, you can see that the SSF trounced the S&P 500 index. Not only did it …

The federalÂ tax deadline is just around the corner. Need more time? No problem. You can get an automatic extension from Uncle Sam by filing Form 4868 by the April 15 deadline. This will give you until Oct. 15 to file your return. The form is only seven lines â€“ half of which are your name, address and Social Security number. However, it does require you toÂ estimateÂ your tax liability. Get discounts on insurance and bankingÂ services â€” AARP Member Advantages. Â» And …

Public interest groups have joined forces in a coalition to prod the U.S. Department of Labor to revise rules requiring financial advisers to act inÂ their clientsâ€™ best interestsÂ when offering retirement investment advice. SaveOurRetirement.com, a website created by the coalition, is urging the Labor Department to update the so-called fiduciary rule. Without that safeguard, advisers to retirement plans couldÂ sell financial products that pay large commissions yet hurt their clients with unnecessary fees, poor returns or excessive risks, the coalitionÂ said. â€œRight now, …

Itâ€™s been another good year for investing, but only if youâ€™ve been doing it right. U.S. stocks are up 14 percent this year as of Dec. 26, on top of aÂ 33.5 percent gain last year, as measured by the Vanguard Total Stock Index Fund ETF (VTI). If you want to do it right in 2015, and maximize the chances of growing your wealth, now is the perfect time to make someÂ New Yearâ€™s resolutions. Repeat after me…. I will stop making …